Q: Carnivorous plants of northern Africa--little known species!
Northern Africa
A:
The number of carnivorous plant species known from Africa, Madagascar, and the Seychelles is huge, so on this page
I have excluded those carnivorous plants that are found exclusively in the three
countries at the southern tip of the continent: South Africa, Lesotho, and Swaziland.
Even so, I am afraid that the carnivorous plant biodiversity of Africa is enormous! Most of Africa's carnivorous plants are in the genera
Drosera, Genlisea, and Utricularia. Many
of these species are very poorly known.
Smaller genera
The African inventory includes noteworthy but small additions from five other genera:
- Aldrovanda vesiculosa in Botswana (and possibly Zambia and Mozambique).
- Drosophyllum lusitanicum in Morocco.
- Nepenthes madagascariensis and N. masoalensis from Madagascar; Nepenthes pervillei from the Seychelles.
- Pinguicula lusitanica and P. vulgaris in Morocco. The Moroccan species "P. fontiqueriana" is likely P. vulgaris or P. grandiflora.
- Triphyophyllum peltatum in Sierra Leone, Libera, and Cote d'Ivoire.
Genlisea
About half the species in this genus occur in Africa; all are endemic to the region treated on this page, except for
G. hispidula which also occurs in South Africa:
Utricularia
subulata
Utricularia
gibba
Utricularia
foliosa
Utricularia
bisquamata
Drosera
madagascariensis
Drosera
In this part of the world, the genus Drosera is represented by 10-15 species or so, many of which
are very poorly understood:
Utricularia
The contribution from Utricularia is enormous, and many are endemic to this region. Last I made an effort to count, I figured there were
nearly 40 species from this region. Now, I would expect the number to be even greater.
Page citations: Casper, J. 1966; Degreef, J.D. 1990; Exell, A.W., and Laundon, J.R. 1956; Fischer, E. et al. 2000; Fleischmann, A. 2012; Rice, B.A. 2006a, 2008b; Robinson, A., et al. 2017; Schlauer, J. 2002; Taton, A. 1945; Taylor, P. 1989.
